10 DEUCES; A personal pantheon of dominant Deuces.(News)

Byline: TONY THACKER

Bad enough I was chosen to be one of the committee of 25 selecting what we determined were the 75 Most Significant '32 Ford Hot Rods for Ford's 75th anniversary celebration of same. Then Roger Hart of AutoWeek called and asked if I could narrow it down to the 20 Most Significant (10 of which are here, the rest can be found at autoweek.com). What a task, about which Roger said, "That means painting a brighter target on your back.'' Thanks, Roger.

I'm up for it, however, since, along with everybody else, I have an opinion, and as somebody who has studied the genre for a quarter-century, mine's as good as the next guy's. That said, it's only my opinion. You can disagree. I don't mind; in fact, I welcome it.

Before I start, however, a quick recap of the original process started by Ford designer Larry Erickson, PR man Dave Boule, Ford executive John Clinard and Greg Sharp, curator of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Each of the 25 chosen guys was tasked to pick the 75 Deuces he thought were significant. In all, we came up with 474 cars and gradually whittled it down to 75. Are they the most significant? Maybe, maybe not. It's just a list.

Ironically, the most significant Deuce for me, Fred Allen's Satan (commonly referred to as the Devil Deuce) didn't make the final list. Just goes to show what a democratic process that whole exercise was. Here, then, is my personal list.

1. American Graffiti Coupe

Now owned by Rick Figari, the canary-yellow coupe from American Graffiti might not have the aesthetic of some other hot-rod Deuces, but it nevertheless rejuvenated a lagging interest in hot rodding when the movie came out in 1973 and turned a million kids on to the world of hot rods. With bobbed fenders in the rear, cycle fenders up front and that incongruous sectioned grille, it set its own style. The work was handled by Johnny Franklin in Santa Rosa, California, who also added the Man-A-Fre intake with four 2GC Rochester carbs. It has to be numero uno.